PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a light heavyweight MMA rules bout between Rocky Balboa (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Rui Ferreira (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Rocky Balboa has the better chin. Will he look to stand and bang today?

Balboa
vs
Ferreira

190 cm
19
210 lbs
3 - 2 - 0

188 cm
23
213 lbs
2 - 3 - 0

BJJ Blue Belt
Brawler
Granite chin

BJJ Blue Belt
Excellent MT
Knockout power

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the light heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 2 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Rocky Balboa!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 2 - 3 - 0, fighting out of St Petersburg, Rui Ferreira!
The judges for this bout are Aleksei Zolotukhin, Valeri Chadov and Konstantin Menshow.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Balboa has a takedown stuffed.
Balboa dives in and grabs Ferreira's left leg, looking for a takedown. Ferreira pushes down on Balboa's head and hops out.
Ferreira will need to tighten up his combinations if he doesn't want to gas himself out, swinging at thin air.
Ferreira thows a body kick. Balboa tries to catch it but that hurt him.

Balboa shoots in for a takedown and gets it. Oh and he's advanced to full mount straight away.
Ferreira is wriggling around trying to escape.
Ferreira is persisting with the attempt to improve his position.
Ferreira really doesn't want to stay on the ground with Balboa. If he can't get it back to his feet, it's only a matter of time before he'll be tapping out.
Ferreira sneaks a leg back under and regains half guard and is working straight away to try and get back to guard. He hasn't managed just yet though.
Ferreira avoiding damage under a succession of punches from Balboa.
Balboa working the head and body with strikes.
Balboa slips a nice elbow through Ferreira's hands, connecting with Ferreira's forehead.
Fantastic stuff here - a very entertaining period of action, which has drawn cheers from the crowd.
Ferreira keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Ferreira wants to improve his position but Balboa is controlling well.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Ferreira gets back to full guard.
Balboa working some ground and pound from guard but it's not doing any damage.
Balboa postures up in Ferreira's guard and throws a big left but Ferreira blocks it.
Balboa postures up to throw the ground and pound strikes but they don't connect.
Balboa throws a big right hand that misses.
Ferreira is trying to keep Balboa in close.

It looks like we're going to have a standup here. Neither fighter is doing enough on the ground.
Balboa lands a two punch combo.
Ferreira shoots in but doesn't get the takedown

and Balboa counters with a shoot takedown. Ferreira fights it but they end up in guard.
Ferreira looks gassed!
Balboa thows a big elbow that misses.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ferreira looking for a sweep. Not yet Ferreira, not yet.
Balboa is sitting in guard, working some ground and pound.
Ferreira wants to stand and escape but Balboa is having none of it.
Balboa scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
This is a great period of action - very entertaining stuff!
Ferreira trying to keep a closed guard but Balboa is proving a slippery customer.
Balboa pushing down on Ferreira's thigh, trying to pass to half guard. He's managed it... Nice work.
Ferreira is looking to control Balboa's leg but it's slowly edging free. Can Ferreira avoid being mounted?
The fighters are going at a pretty good pace and they're both starting to sweat now.
Balboa slips a nice elbow through Ferreira's hands, connecting with Ferreira's forehead.
Balboa working over Ferreira with some ground and pound. Ferreira looks like he wants out of this position, which is understandable.
Balboa lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Balboa passes to side control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Balboa works a knee to the body and follows up with a nice elbow to the head.

Balboa stands up and we're back to a striking position.
Balboa looking to throw a kick but he's pulled out of it.

Balboa drives through with a takedown into guard.
Balboa in full guard, throwing the ground and pound. No damage this time.
Balboa lands a couple of decent looking shots.
Balboa lands a couple of digs.
Balboa lands a couple of decent looking shots.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Ferreira is looking for a guillotine. You can't force these things though and Balboa defends well.
Ferreira looking to sweep here. No luck so far.
Balboa has been looking to land a fair amount of strikes on the ground. He might be looking to soften his opponent up in order to work for a submission.
Balboa working in close now, lands a nice elbow to the side of Ferreira's head.
Balboa lands a couple of digs.
Balboa with a couple of shots to the head there. Not particularly brutal.
Balboa passes Ferreira's left leg - he's now in half guard.
Ferreira has hold of Balboa's hands but Balboa slips his arm to the side and lands an elbow.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.

Balboa is looking for an arm triangle, whilst trying to pass to side control. Ferreira doesn't seem that keen to cooperate though. No luck this time Balboa.
The crowd cheering loudly, showing their appreciation for the quality fight we're seeing here.

Balboa is working for a kimura but Ferreira is defending it quite comfortably.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Rocky Balboa dominated that round.
That's time! Back to the action!

Balboa feints and then dives in with a takedown. That was a long way out but the feint bought him enough time to close the distance and complete the takedown. Now we'll play guard for a bit and see who can get the better of that position.
Ferreira preventing the ground and pound from doing any damage.
Ferreira tries to land a sweep but no joy.
Balboa landing some decent shots from guard.
Balboa lands a nice shot whilst sitting in his opponent's guard.
Balboa postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.
Balboa is looking to work some ground and pound but Ferreira has wrist control.
Ferreira is breathing heavily.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Balboa loading up with the ground and pound but he's missing more than he's landing in this flurry.
Balboa scores with a decent looking elbow strike.
Balboa distracts Ferreira with his right hand and drops a big elbow with his other arm.
Balboa throwing shots from guard but he's hitting more mat than opponent.
Balboa postures up in Ferreira's guard and throws a big left but Ferreira blocks it.

Balboa drops back, looking for a kneebar! Ferreira looks panicked! The fighters roll across the mat, one looking to finish, one looking to escape. Ferreira looks to have wriggled free... Yes, he's got his leg free and he's dived into side control! Good work there from Ferreira!
Balboa avoids any damage from the ground and pound of Ferreira.
Ferreira working the strikes but Balboa uses the opportunity to regain half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Ferreira is trying to control. Balboa wants to improve his position but can't escape this time.
Ferreira performing his best blanket impression for a moment.
Balboa is trying to stand up here but Ferreira is controlling him well.
Ferreira is keen to just control but Balboa is a slippery customer.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Ferreira is looking to stall here but Balboa recovers full guard.
Ferreira wanted to stand there but Balboa had control of the position.
Ferreira wants to stand and escape but instead Balboa has hit a sweep and he's now on top in guard.
Balboa chips away with some ground and pound.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
A lull in the action here being met with boos from the crowd.
Balboa is in close to Ferreira's body, working some short punches and elbows.
Ferreira avoiding any damage from the ground and pound.
Balboa stands and throws Ferreira's legs to the side, diving into side control.

Balboa working hard here to secure a kimura but he's not really in the right position for it.

Balboa is working for what looks like an arm triangle here. Ferreira is trying to escape and Balboa transitions quickly into an armbar! He's slapped it on tight and Ferreira is forced to tap! Nice work there by Balboa! Very nice indeed!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:45 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Armbar). Rocky Balboa!